The Florida Panthers will look to make it two straight wins on home ice when they host the New York Islanders on Sunday in Sunrise.
Florida is fresh off a 7-6 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday afternoon, which was the first win in five games for the Panthers.
It didn’t come easy, as the Cats had to claw back from 4-1 and 6-4 deficits, the latter of which coming during the third period, in order to pick up two points for the first time in almost two weeks.
Now the Panthers have a chance to complete an incredibly positive weekend and inject some much-needed good vibes into a squad that hasn’t had many reasons to feel good so far this season.
While Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart have carried the load in terms of Florida’s offense for much of the season, there are a pair of key Florida players who have started making major contributions in the scoring department.
Sam Bennett logged a four-point game on Saturday against Columbus and has four goals and 12 points over his past nine outings.
New papa Carter Verhaeghe has racked up five goals and 10 points over a five-game point streak.
If the two of them are back to the high-end point producing we’ve come to expect, that will go a long way toward keeping the Panthers in a good place as they start welcoming back injured players.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Sunday’s soiree with the Islanders:
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – A.J. Greer
Jesper Boqvist – Jack Studnicka – Luke Kunin
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Donovan Sebrango – Uvis Balinskis
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Photo caption: Dec 6, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) celebrates a goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets with teammates during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)
